Opposition wants coherence between national, communal campaigns

Luxembourg's Christian Social People's Party seeks to focus on national themes of family, mobility and affordable housing.

05.09.2017

The opposition Christian Social People's Party (CSV) has laid out the three main points of its national campaign for Luxembourg's communal elections on October 8.

Party president Marc Spautz and general secretary Laurent Zeimet announced during a press conference on Tuesday that the CSV would focus on the themes of family, mobility and affordable housing.

Party leaders took pains to emphasise the links between politics at the national level and the communal level, even though the CSV has in the past stressed that communal and national elections needed to be considered separately.

"The CSV advocates coherence between their politics on the national and local level," said Zeimet, adding that many discussions had taken place among party members active at the national level and those active more locally.

Those talks led them to establish a common vision of Luxembourg for the coming years.

Local branches of the CSV are already embracing part of this vision in their local election programme "so that one fits in with the other".

According to the CSV, this approach is unique among Luxembourg's political parties.

"I don't know whether the other parties will be able to organise this in the same way the CSV wants to guarantee it," Zeimet said.

The party said it has developed strategies under its three main national themes that it will seek to implement at the communal level across the whole of the country.

Under the 'family' banner, for example, one of the demands is for communes to provide high-quality, flexible childcare.

A clear goal

"Our goal is to come out of (the communal) elections massively strengthened," said Spautz, who announced earlier this year that the party would view the communal elections as a barometer for the 2018 legislative elections.

He also said the party wanted as many CSV councillors and mayors to be elected as possible, although he conceded that communal elections were "different" insofar as candidates' personalities played a much bigger role than in legislative elections.

Spautz said in his opening remarks that the CSV would not comment on potential coalition formations as other parties have already done.

A total of 600 candidates will represent the CSV in the communes, which have a proportional system, where candidates join together on lists.

Of the 600 candidates, 38% are women, just shy of the 40% threshold the CSV targeted but above the 33% it set itself as a minimum.

More than 57% of the candidates are on the list for the first time, which Zeimet qualifies as part of an already ongoing phase of renewal.

Of the 19 CSV MPs, 17 are candidates in the communal elections, the most notable exception being the head of the parliamentary fraction Claude Wiseler.

In communes with a majority system in place, the list of candidates is not yet complete, as people can sign up until Friday.

The type of system depends on the size of the commune. Municipalities with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants have a "majority" system, where the candidates stand individually, and parties play only a secondary role.